Beautiful, No Matter What They Say
by rebecca-in-blue
Summary: "Jessi could make any motion at all look graceful." Mallory teaches Jessi a new word in sign language... but the meaning isn't exactly the same for Mallory.


For my own reference: 75th fanfiction, 2nd story for _The Baby-Sitters Club_.

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Jessi pauses at the curb and darts her head back and forth with quick, bird-like movements - right, left, right again, just like they teach their youngest clients to do before they cross the street. As soon as she sees that traffic is clear, she flies across the street; her long, lithe legs move so fast, yet so gracefully. She runs like a colt in one of Marguerite Henry's books - nothing at all like Mallory's slow, awkward sprints in gym class.

Mallory is waiting for her on the bleachers of the SES baseball diamond, down the street from the Braddocks' house, where Jessi has just finished a sitting job. They had agreed to meet here and walk to Claudia's house together for that evening's club meeting. She's sitting with her legs sprawled out in front of her, her shoulders slumped, her nose buried in a book until Jessi had called her name from across the street. Mallory stands and and clumsily shoves her library books into her backpack - Jessi picks one up for her, almost too quickly to even see, after she drops it - and they climb on their bikes and start pedaling towards Claudia's house.

They talk about school, baby-sitting, siblings, and other ordinary stuff until Jessi says suddenly, "Oh, guess what, Mal? Matt and Haley just taught me a new sign. I was showing them this _adage_ I just learned in my ballet class, and when I finished it, Matt did this." In one perfect, smooth motion, Jessi opens and closes her fingers as she moves her hand in a circle around her own face. "See? It's the sign for _beautiful_. Try it."

Mallory hands tighten around her bike handles. "That means beautiful?" she asks. "Show me again."

Jessi makes the sign again with one hand, still holding onto her bike with the other. She could bike forever with only one hand; she can even bike _no_-handed, because she has such a keen sense of balance from her ballet training. It doesn't break her rhythm in the slightest. "Try it," she says again, smiling at Mallory. "It's an easy sign."

But Mallory's hand doesn't let go of her bike. Of _course_ the sign looks easy when Jessi does it. Jessi could make any sign, any motion at all, look easy and graceful. That's why she's a ballet dancer. But Mallory's the opposite: she could make any motion look clumsy. It strikes her as so strange that the sign for _beautiful_ is to encircle your own face. It's like... it would almost feel like saying that _you_ were beautiful, wouldn't it? No, Mallory couldn't make that sign. She shakes her head and looks down at the pavement.

"Oh, come on. It's easy." Jessi makes the sign again, and Mallory can't explain to her why she doesn't want to make it, too. "You know Kristy wants all of us to learn as much sign language as we can, for when we sit for Matt and Haley," she points out.

They're almost at Bradford Court now, and pedaling fast. It's such a free feeling, biking along like this with the wind in her frizzy red hair. "Well..." Mallory relents, and then she takes a deep breath and lets go of her bike with one hand. She's so uncoordinated that even that makes her wobble a bit, but before she can grab the handle again, Jessi reaches over and grabs it for her, keeping her steady. Mallory raises her free hand uncertainly, hesitates, then quickly spreads her fingers in a circle around her face.

"That's it!" Jessi exclaims, as if she's just done something amazing. "That's _beautiful_. When we get to Claud's, we'll teach it to the rest of the club."

_Jessi_ can teach it to them, Mallory decides, but she only smiles and says nothing. She isn't going to repeat this sign in front of the whole club. It would almost be like telling them that she was beautiful. It would be too embarrassing. And yet, as she'd flicked her fingers towards her face, biking along in the summer afternoon, Mallory couldn't deny that for a second, she had_ felt_ beautiful. She wondered vaguely if feeling something could make it so.

**FIN**


End file.
